During the week, Dr. David Delnostro can be found practicing medicine at SouthCoast Medical Group on Eisenhower Drive.

What his patients may not know is that Delnostro also is an author. His book, “Only God Can Make A Butterfly,” took two years to write.

“I tried to take the message of the Bible and bring it into the realm of medicine, primarily psychology,” Delnostro said. “The book is basically a psychological understanding of world views, both secular and Christian. We’re all born self-centered. The other option is to be God-centered.”

To Delnostro, a spiritual life means a healthy life. “Only when we live under the authority of God” can we be truly healthy, he said.

“As a person’s perception changes, their nature changes,” Delnostro said. “Someone who is looking to be admired and respected turns into someone who knows their true worth is separate from performance and achievements.

“Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is a medical and psychological benefit,” Delnostro said. “It will save you from eternal separation from God. It saves you from living life under your own authority. Human beings are not designed to be their own gods.”

Growing up, Delnostro had no religion. “My mom was Jewish, my dad Catholic,” he said. “I didn’t become a born-again Christian until I was 40. I say I was a wandering Jew, lost in the desert, before God finally found me.”

The Bible is really a medical book, not a religious one, Delnostro said. “Christ came to let us know life is about relationships and a relationship with God.”

Delnostro has book signings coming up at Savannah Christian Church, where he is a deacon and also runs the divorce recovery program. His book was published last August and is available at Barnes and Noble, the Seeds of Faith bookstore and The Source bookstore at Savannah Christian Church’s main campus. Delnostro also sells signed copies of the book out of his office, and it is available as an ebook at the Barnes and Noble and Amazon websites.

“The Bible is God’s medical manual, a psychological primer,” Delnostro said. “It tells us not only how to live, but for whom to live.

“I’d like to bring the Bible back into schools and medicine,” he said. “Over 30 years of practice. I’ve seen that people who live under God’s authority deal with stressful situations better, they make fewer damaging decisions in their lives. They have higher self-esteem and a better outlook when they are sick and they ultimately do better.”

In his book, Delnostro compares humans to caterpillars. “All human beings are born as caterpillars,” he said. “Caterpillars have legs, just like human beings.

“They spend their lives consuming, crawling all over each other to get what they want,” he said. “They live in the darkness of the foliage and see things only from one perspective.

“But sometimes a caterpillar stops its self-centered ways, and its structure changes. When it emerges from the cocoon, it’s as if it is born again. It sees the world with new eyes, and it will have wings as well as legs.”

Even though a person may gain wings, they still have a sinful nature, Delnostro said. “But with wings, they can see in light, they can see the truth about life, about themselves, where caterpillars cannot.”

“They also have a new nature and no longer destroy the gardens,” Delnostro said. “They feed on nectar and pollinate the garden. A caterpillar can never walk to heaven, but a butterfly can fly.”

IF YOU GO

What: Dr. David Delnostro will sign copies of his book “Only God Can Make A Butterfly”